Japanese publisher hopes to lift ban on Mapplethorpe book
TOKYO (AFP) — A Japanese publisher who tried to print images of male genitals taken by late US photographer Robert Mapplethorpe said Thursday he was hopeful the top court will lift an eight-year ban on the book.
Pornography is widely available in Japan and legal for personal use. But laws on public morals forbid the import of material that clearly depicts genitalia, causing frequent disputes as censorship is at officers' discretion.
The Supreme Court agreed this week to hear an appeal by Takashi Asai, who was barred from bringing into Japan a book of photos, including some showing men's organs.
Asai's publishing company, Uplink, had reproduced the photos in a book of Mapplethorpe's collection printed in 1994.
But when Asai took a copy to the United States and then brought it back to Japan in 1999, customs officers seized it as obscene and Asai agreed to suspend sales.
"My lawyers told me that the top court's announcement on hearing the case is a sign that we will win," Asai told AFP.
"I really don't understand the government's decision to ban importing a book which had already been published for five years," he said.
However, the Supreme Court in 1999 ruled against another man in a similar case.
In Asai's case, the Tokyo District Court had sided with him, ruling that the ban be lifted and that the government pay him 700,000 yen (6,300 dollars) in compensation.
The Tokyo High Court, however, overturned the lower court decision, and Japan's highest court will now hear the case on January 22.
Despite the ban, Asai said the book remained in the National Diet Library, which keeps copies of all books published in Japan.
